What I say unto you I say unto all, watch. Mark 13:37

March 31, 2011

Israeli map shows nearly 1,000 Hezbollah sites

The
Israeli military on Thursday released a map detailing what it says are nearly
1,000 underground bunkers, weapons storage facilities and monitoring sites built
by the militant Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon.

Many of the sites on the map are located south of the Litani
River in Lebanon, the zone where Hezbollah is banned from keeping weapons under
the U.N.-sponsored truce that ended Israel’s summer 2006 war with the guerrilla
group.

An article on the military spokesman’s website says Hezbollah
has set up some 550 bunkers, 300 monitoring sites and 100 weapons storage
facilities. The facilities are located in 270 villages, and many are located
near hospitals, private homes and schools, the military said in a statement
published on its website.

Israel and Hezbollah went to war after the Lebanese guerrilla
group killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others in a cross-border
raid. Although Israel inflicted heavy damage on the group, it was unable to
prevent it from firing some 4,000 rockets into Israel during the month long
conflict.

Since then, Israel has accused Hezbollah of repeatedly
violating the U.N.-brokered cease-fire by restocking its arsenal and covertly
moving forces into south Lebanon, near the Israeli border. The map released
Thursday was meant to provide new evidence against Hezbollah.

Israel believes Hezbollah now has more than 40,000 rockets,
nearly three time the pre-war level, including more powerful weapons capable of
reaching Israel’s Tel Aviv heartland.

The militant group, which controls the strongest armed force
in Lebanon, did not acknowledge or deny that the Israeli map was accurate and
accused Israel of employing scare tactics.

“They are trying to tell us that they will destroy Lebanon.
Let them do it if they can and I tell them they cannot,” said Khodr Noureddine,
a member of Hezbollah’s political bureau.

He speculated that Israel might have released the map because
Hezbollah’s leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, told the group last month to be
prepared to invade northern Israel if a new war between the two sides breaks
out.

Israel has for years accused Hezbollah of rearming with the
help of Iran and Syria, setting up “rocket villages” in southern Lebanon. The
Israel-Lebanon border has been tense but largely quiet since the war, which
killed around 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis, according to official counts from
each side. †